Overview

Yet another Sacramento resident has died as a result of a motorcycle accident. In late September, 54-year-old Christopher Wells was riding his Harley on the Capital City Freeway when suddenly, everything went wrong. Wells was in the process of changing lanes when another driver began doing the same thing. Responding to the other driver, Wells applied his brakes, only to lose control of his motorcycle. The California Highway Patrol said Wells was wearing a helmet and abiding by the speed limit at the time of the collision. Less than two weeks later, Wells passed away as a result of the serious injuries he sustained in that late September accident.

While we may never know all of the facts that contributed to the Wells accident, we can still benefit from simply acknowledging that riding a motorcycle can be a very dangerous activity. Fortunately, recent California statistics indicate that many cyclists are beginning to exercise greater caution. The year 2009 is the first one since 1998 to show an actual decline in motorcycle fatalities. This abrupt change may make you wonder which safety precautions are keeping our cyclists safer.

Helpful Safety Tips

Here are some general safety tips that may help you enjoy riding your motorcycle for many more years to come:

• Always wear quality protective gear (like leather gloves, a good helmet and proper boots);
• Whatever your age, plan on taking new driver or refresher training classes offered by The California Motorcyclist Safety Program. Being a skilled car, truck or ATV driver doesn’t necessarily make you a skilled cyclist. Different skills must be mastered for each unique vehicle;
• Avoid purchasing one of the heavier bikes as your first one. Give yourself time to master the many different types of maneuvers required for safely riding a medium-sized motorcycle before risking your life on one of the heavier ones.
• Postpone buying or riding one of the smaller bikes known for their great speed when you first start riding a motorcycle. There’s no sense in shortening your lifespan just because you’re too impatient to first acquire the skills required for some of the more specialized bikes;
• Always ask an experienced buddy to ride his (or her) own motorcycle alongside you when you first start riding. You may need someone to give you critical pointers or summon help if you’re injured;
• Even if you’ve been riding a motorcycle for many years, respect your life enough to review online resources that can alert you to important changes in the laws affecting cyclists;
• During poor weather conditions, never assume that you can just as easily maneuver your motorcycle around town or on highways; drivers of cars and trucks are less likely to notice you in such conditions;
• Stop weaving in and out of traffic just to save a bit of time. Being 10 minutes closer to home or the office when fatally injured won’t comfort anyone who cares about you;
• Consider just using your car during rush hour or when attending major sporting or entertainment events on weekends. Nighttime weekend events attract far too many people who think nothing of mixing alcohol and driving;
• Be doubly considerate of other drivers – most other vehicles weigh a lot more than yours and can seriously hurt you upon impact.

We hope these tips will help you keep safely riding your motorcycle for many years to come. You can still enjoy the thrill of riding a motorcycle while observing the most basic safety precautions.

Demas & Rosenthal has been helping motorcycle injury victims for nearly twenty years.

Driving a snowmobile over white powder terrains can be thrilling for most of us. Unfortunately, far too many people are being injured in these types of accidents. This may be because so many of these vehicles are currently on the slopes. According to the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association’s 2007 – 2008 statistics, California has about 22, 882 registered snowmobiles. With this many recreational vehicles on the limited slopes and back roads that allow them, it’s no wonder injuries are rising.

Furthermore, since some snowmobile drivers engage in rather dangerous games, including one called “high marking,” it’s a miracle that more snow sport enthusiasts haven’t already been hurt. “High marking” players try to see who can climb the highest on the side of a mountain or slope, before gravity causes them to slide downwards. While involved with this foolish game, players often pay too little attention to those nearby who might be injured. The risks become even greater when the players are drinking alcohol.

To stay safe and fully enjoy your snowmobiling experience, please keep in mind the following suggestions:

• Check the California Department of Parks and Recreation’s Web site (and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management’s Web site) to see if snowmobiling is allowed in the area you’d like to visit.
  http://ohv.parks.ca.gov/ andhttp://www.blm.gov/
• Keep in mind that weekdays and non-holidays provide the safest times to visit parks that allow snowmobiling. Always check to see if California’s “SNO PARK” season is still ongoing and review all applicable rules and regulations.
  See: http://www.parks.ca.gov/ ; andhttp://ohv.parks.ca.gov/
• Make sure the snowmobile you’re planning to ride has been recently serviced and is properly maintained. Be sure you have plenty of fuel before leaving your starting point so you won’t wind up stranded far away.

• Always ride with others. Should you have an accident, be sure at least two others
  are with you so that one can go for help if you can’t be moved and the other one
  can stay with you until help comes.

• Whenever possible, choose the most popular trails since they’ll often provide the quickest access to comprehensive care or help when it’s needed.

Obtain the proper training for snowmobiling before venturing out and driving.

Be sure you meet all relevant age requirements for any vehicle you wish to drive.

If you’ve been in a snowmobile accident, please let our highly experienced firm handle all of your legal needs while you concentrate on recovering. We’ve been handling skiing and other snow-related accidents for many years.

If you walk your children to the school bus stop and wait until they’re safely seated before leaving, you may think you’ve done your job. In fact, school buses are almost eight times safer for children than privately driven vehicles. Nevertheless, other accident statistics indicate that we must take a closer look at the school bus safety issue. In its most recent report entitled, “Traffic Safety Facts: 2006 Data,” See the PDF document link at: click here. the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) states that between 1996 and 2006, there were 1, 387 fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes that were “school transportation-related.” Although about 140 people die in such crashes each year, most of the fatalities involve the passengers in the privately driven cars.

Still, close to nine children riding in school transportation vehicles died each year between 1996 and 2006. Numerous school-age pedestrians, age 19 or younger, have
also lost their lives by coming into contact with school buses. About half of these young pedestrians who died were between the ages of five and seven.

Read More

These statistics clearly indicate that whether we are parents, caregivers, teachers, general pedestrians or drivers, we must provide children with plenty of safety rules and suggestions. Likewise, we must carefully monitor our own driving and walking behavior when we’re near school buses.

The following suggestions are made with all school-age children in mind:

(See this link)

• Remind your children to never push and shove when boarding a bus. They need to walk calmly and carefully, boarding or exiting the bus one at a time. They should always wait for the driver’s signal that they may board or disembark. Also, they should try to arrive at their bus stops at least five minutes early to avoid rushed attempts to board. Once on the bus, children must remember to never engage in any rough play or throw objects at one another.
• Be sure your children use the handrails when boarding or exiting a bus. That way, should another child be pushing or shoving others, they’ll be less likely to fall down. Kids should always wait for the driver to make a complete stop before even thinking about standing up and exiting the bus.
• Children need to be told that the most dangerous areas around a school bus are those just behind the bus and on both sides, closer to the front of the bus. Kids should never step out into the street from between parked cars or from behind nearby bushes since this may further prevent drivers from seeing them in time to stop.
• As tempting as it is to all of us to take shortcuts, remind your children to always cross the street in a crosswalk, if one is available, and at a corner.
• Tell your children to remain seated at all times and to keep their belongings just below them. Putting anything out in the aisle may prove dangerous.
• Remind children to immediately go and tell the driver if they have dropped something near the bus so the driver won’t accidentally hit them when they are bending over to pick it up and out of view. Be sure your kids have backpacks or other items in which they can carry all of their school books, supplies and lunches. Make sure their carry-on items don’t have anything hanging off them that could cause them to get caught in a bus doorway or elsewhere.
• When a school bus stop is located in a particularly dangerous location, ask the school district if it might be moved someplace nearby — perhaps closer to a reputable store, place of worship or other safe gathering place.
• Remind children to never start walking as soon as the driver tells them it’s safe to disembark from the school bus. They must always look for themselves to be sure that there are no cars on the shoulder near the curb or on the street side of the bus.
• Children should walk at least five big steps out in front of the bus, catching the driver’s eye and waiting for his or her signal that it’s safe to cross the street, before they begin to do so. Next, young people should always personally look to both the left and the right to be sure the road is clear of all vehicles before crossing. Children should always keep their eyes on vehicles while still crossing the street. They need to be reminded that just because most drivers are adults, they may still not look carefully for pedestrians because they are often distracted by their passengers, traffic lights, cell phones and other items.

If we will share each of these warnings and explanations with our children, we should be able to dramatically decrease the number of kids who are annually harmed, both as riders and pedestrians, in school bus accidents or fatalities. Having represented many children in California who have been injured in different motor vehicle accidents, we hope you will never to call our offices for possible representation.